


Before Max

by ShreddieKirin



Series: Max (Warehouse 13) [1]
Category: Warehouse 13
Genre: Alchemy, Bullying, Crying, Doppelganger, Gen, Masters, Past Abuse, Past Rape/Non-con, Past Sexual Assault, Past Torture, Self-Esteem Issues, Trauma, homunculus - Freeform, meltdowns
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-01
Updated: 2016-12-01
Packaged: 2018-09-03 11:23:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8710657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShreddieKirin/pseuds/ShreddieKirin
Summary: Joshua shows up at the B&B with who he thinks is his sister after several very traumatizing events that left them worse for wear. The problem is, Claudia is already at the B&B and is completely fine. An argument ensues over which one is the real Claudia and Josh's Claudia ends up admitting that it's the fake.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I've been meaning to redo this for a while (and I've been working on redoing it for a while), and here it is.

    Claudia feels horrible.

    She can still remember exactly how it all played out. Pretty much everyone had been mistreating the copycat Claudia. Leena stood up for them, saying that just because it looked and acted like her but wasn’t was no excuse to not treat it like a person.

    Myka and Pete had backed off almost immediately, though it seemed to be more about not wanting to incur Leena’s wrath. It had seemed like Artie had kind of understood what she’d meant, but thought she was going overboard. Either way, he’d backed off. Joshua hadn’t stepped down. He’d opposed Leena and told the copycat Claudia exactly what he thought of it. While she hadn’t spoken her mind like her brother had, she did shoot her doppelganger plenty of patronizing glares.

    She remembers glaring at the copycat Claudia and noticing the tears starting to brim at the corners of its eyes. She remembers that being the moment she understood what Leena had meant. It had been hardly a second before Joshua had said something that had hit the copycat particularly hard.

    He, no, _they_ made the copycat Claudia run from the room crying. Leena had made her and Joshua help her with dinner while Artie, Myka, and Pete went and looked for it. They’d spent close to an hour searching with no success.

    Claudia doesn’t feel bad for agreeing with her brother. Looking back on it, she thinks he was overreacting, but she still agrees with him. What he said sounds fair.

    She feels bad for mistreating her doppelganger. She feels bad for not understanding what Leena meant when she stood up for it. She feels bad for making it run out of the room crying.

    She spent several years in foster care and in a mental institution and in each place the same thing always happened; people were always treating her like she was somehow less because she didn’t have a family or was “mentally ill”. It was like that justified all the mistreatment she received. Yet she’d just done the same thing. She’d treated the copycat Claudia like it somehow deserved all the mistreatment it was receiving because of something it probably has no control over, like it deserved everything that was happening to it because it dared to look and sound like her.

    Claudia feels like a horrible person.

    The garbage bag lands in the trash bin with a satisfying thunk that does absolutely nothing for her. Leena has been rightfully working both her and her brother like slaves. The sky is a warm orange but is quickly turning to a dark crimson.

    She’s about to head back inside when she hears something. Waiting for a moment, she listens for it. It’s coming from the trees. She walks over to them and looks up to where the noise is coming from. She sees her double sitting in the branches, crying.

    She’s not sure what she’s supposed to do. Like, what is she supposed to do when confronted with a crying twin version of herself? Especially when she’s part of the reason it’s crying in the first place.

    “Hey, um, can you come down from there?” she says awkwardly.

    She can hear it pause, and then it carefully climbs down from the tree. It sits down, curling its knees against its chest.

    Sitting down next to it, she tries to determine how she should go about this. She eventually settles on saying, “I, uh, look. I’m really sorry about earlier, and, um, everything else.”

    It sniffs, “No, I-I’m sorry. . .”

    “Why are you sorry? You don’t have anything to be sorry for,” she asks, confused.

    “He’s right. Everything he said was right. I-I. . .” its voice breaks off into harsh sobs.

    “Hey,” it looks up at her, “just because he’s right doesn’t mean it was okay for us to treat you the way we did. You’re still a human being.”

    “B-But I’m not human,” it states.

    She forces down her instinctual response to that, instead saying, “but you still have feelings, and just because you look like me but aren’t me doesn’t make those feelings any less real or important than the rest of ours.”

    It gives her a bewildered look. “T-They aren’t. . .?”

    “Of course not! Why would you even think that!?”

    It flinches and seems taken aback by her reaction, then looks back down at the ground. “I-I always thought. . .everyone always. . .”

    “What exactly happened?” she asks carefully.

    It’s quiet for a moment before speaking, “I’m a homunculus.”

    “Hoe-monk-cue-less?” she says quizzically.

    “Homunculus. A homunculus is an artificial, alchemically created servant. The process generally involves creating a body and implanting a soul into it. Modern alchemists usually design artificial souls since they’re more malleable and easier to work with; and with the advances in DNA technology, they can customize a homunculus’ appearance and personality, including being able to make them look and act like someone specific if they have the DNA sample,” it explains.

    “And they had a DNA sample from me and used it to make you,” she states, and it nods in confirmation.

    “When a DNA sample is used, the homunculus starts with their base personality, but that can be easily influenced if you know how. It’s most impressionable as soon as the homunculus is alive,” it continues. “M-My soul was engineered t-to be very influenceable a-and to adapt t-to the b-base personality. B-Basically, I-I was m-made to be y-you. As s-soon a-as I was g-given life, I-I was t-told that h-he was my b-brother, a-and that he cared about m-me more than a-anything e-else in the world, and t-that he’d d-do a-anything for me.”

    Claudia’s heart sinks with guilt as her brain processes the information she’s been given. As soon as it had admitted it wasn’t who Joshua thought it was, he had abandoned it. Then to have him attack it like that; it must have been crushing.

    “I-I know he’s n-not my b-brother, he c-can’t be; and h-he’s rightful to f-feel the way h-he does, b-but i-it still h-hurts.” It begins to cry again, and she tries to comfort it as best she can.

    “You don’t have to talk anymore if you don’t want to,” she says once it’s back to sniffling.

    It trembles for a moment before shaking its head. “T-They were trying to make him behave.”

    “What?” she asks.

    “They were trying to get him to talk, trying to get him to work for them, trying to get him to obey. They tried everything, but he refused. I-I was created t-to be an i-incentive i-in case that happened. T-They t-tortured a-and a-abused me in front of him. H-He begged them to stop, s-said he’d do a-anything. H-He told them everything t-they wanted to know, a-and when he couldn’t h-he was forced to watch as t-they p-punished _me_ for it. Y-You can s-see w-why he’s upset. H-He screamed a-and cried for w-who he thought was you. H-He watched who h-he believed was h-his s-sister getting b-beaten, t-tortured, p-punished, a-and r-raped for what h-he did or d-didn’t do, he-” its voice chokes off, and it goes back to weeping.

    Standing up against Leena no longer seems like such an overreaction on her brother’s part. She’d probably feel the same way. She tries to comfort it as best she can. She’s not entirely sure what the connotations of having a clone that looks exactly like you crying into your shoulder are, and she can’t really bring herself to care.

    It is really weird though; it looks and sounds exactly like her. The only real difference in their appearances is their clothing. It’s wearing dirty, tattered, white clothing: a t-shirt and pants that are reminiscent of scrubs. It’s not even wearing shoes or socks, rather being barefoot instead.

    She’s not entirely sure how long it is, but after some time she hears Pete and Myka calling her name; by then the sun has fully set, and it’s dark. She gently shakes it, causing it to flinch.

    “We should head back inside. It’s getting late,” she says.

    It hesitantly nods. She carefully helps it up with her and guides it towards the voices. It’s obviously nervous, and she can’t help but feel bad, though she’s not really sure how to help.

    “Hey, it’s okay. I’m right here,” she says as she steps into the light, pulling it with her.

    “Where have you- oh,” Pete replies, eyes landing on her clone.

    She pushes past him and goes inside, bringing her double with her. It stumbles along behind her, but doesn’t say anything.

    “C’mon, let’s go see if there’s any food left,” she says to it, pulling it towards the dining room. “I’m starving, and I bet you are too.”

    “I’m sorry,” it mutters. “I don’t eat. My body can’t properly process food.”

    She doesn’t really listen to what it says as she enters the dining room. Once inside, she releases its arm in favor of sitting at the table and grabbing food.

    When Leena shoots her a sharp glare from the doorway to the kitchen, she gestures to her double, and Leena’s expression softens. The only other person in the room is Joshua, who she has decided to take a seat next to; he’s absentmindedly picking at a plate of half-eaten spaghetti.

    Her double is just standing and fidgeting. It jumps when Leena puts a hand on its shoulder and says, “Why don’t you sit down, Sweetie?” However, it nods and timidly takes the seat across from Joshua.

    She catches Joshua shooting her double a glare, and it shrinks back. After finishing her bite, she turns to him and says, “Josh, I really think you should apologize to her.”

    He levels her with a very disapproving glare, and she matches it with her own stern look. Eventually he sighs and says, “What, so now you’re on that thing’s side, too?”

    “What sides!?” she objects. “It’s just as much a victim as you are!”

    “It worked for them! It tricked me into thinking it was you!” Joshua shoots back.

    “It didn’t know! It was just doing what it was told!”

    “Yes, it just did what it was told! It didn’t even think to question if what it was doing was right!”

    “They tortured it!”

    “To get to me!”

    “Which it didn’t have any say in! It’s not like it actively agreed to be tortured in order to get to you!”

    “What is the matter with you?!” Joshua yells, standing up suddenly. “Out of all people, I thought you were the one person who would stand by me, who I could trust! But instead you’re letting that _thing_ ’s _lies_ get to you!”

    “It’s ‘lies’ aren’t getting to me!” she shouts back, standing up as well. “It didn’t lie to me at all! I just realized I shouldn’t be treating it like fucking _dirt_! It’s still a person!”

    “Do you not know what that thing did!? I watched that thing scream and cry, believing it was _you!_ I thought you were being _tortured_ and _raped_!”

    Joshua angrily pushes past her and storms off before she can reapond, but not before Claudia catches the emotion in his eyes. She remains speechless, not sure what to do.

    “ _M-Master. . ._ ”


End file.
